Tag Archives: bestseller

The crime novel, The Cuckoo’s Calling, was released in April of this year and received outstanding reviews. It was, however, due to these reviews and the novel being ‘too accomplished’ for a debut novel, that led the investigation into who actually wrote the book. JK Rowling said that:

“I had hoped to keep this secret a little longer because being Robert Galbraith has been such a liberating experience. It has been wonderful to publish without hype or expectation, and pure pleasure to get feedback under a different name.”

Of course the big reveal has led to a wave of criticism and debates through social media sites, as well as comments on The Guardian‘s page. I find it very hard to agree with some people’s comments, particularly the ones who state that the author’s true identity has only been revealed so that Rowling can earn more money. (Has everyone forgotten the millions which she has made through the Harry Potter series?!) The article reported that the novel has sold 1,500 copies. For a hardback novel, this is a fine achievement for an author we believed to have been making his debut.

It did make me wonder though… can the quality and success of a book be undermined according to the name on the front cover?

Well of course in most instances – yes! Let’s face it, publishers don’t have big branding campaigns and it is no lie that they use the authors’ names to sell their products. Of course a book is going to sell well if it is by an author which is already an established bestseller. People already know what to expect. On the other hand, there is also an argument that no, the name on the cover of a book doesn’t always determine the quality and success of the book. As the article states, The Cuckoo’s Calling has already experienced great success, despite the author not being known. In essence, you only have to think about every bestselling author out there; there was a time when (s)he was not known, yet the quality and success of their book was not undermined because of this.

I think it’s safe to say that in this instance, like those words uttered by Juliet and penned by Shakespeare: ‘that which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet’ is a statement which, undoubtedly, can be applied here.

The publishing world is anticipating one of the industry’s biggest annual events: The London Book Fair 2013 which will be taking place next week…

The LBF is known for the place in which to ‘scout out’ the competition and to predict what is going to be the next big bestseller. Last year (2012) saw publishers try finding the ‘undiscovered’ as companies left, right and centre were focusing on self-published authors. With the massive success of E L James’s Fifty Shades of Grey – an author who had only come to be through writing fan fiction – publishers were trying to find the new E L James.

This year, however, is predicted to be the year for ‘non-fiction projects with an international reach‘. Karolina Sutton, an agent at Curtis Brown, has said that books with the ‘broad’ appeal are on every publisher’s list this year with the ‘booming Asian and Brazilian markets’ being the ones to watch. According to The Bookseller‘s article, LBF has reported that 586 tables in the International Rights Centre have been sold with 27 countries being represented.

As someone who will be attending the LBF for the first time, it will be extremely interesting to see the workings behind the predictions…

Being an absolute geek when it comes to Harry Potter, I was initially gutted when the books came to an end. Having always been a fan of Rowling’s works, I have of course seen all the films and visited the Warner Bros. Harry Potter Studio Tour in an attempt to stretch out my Harry Potter obsession. Now all that is left is to fill the Harry Potter shaped hole in my life… which may actually be fulfilled in the near future…

This is what I stumbled across the other day whilst looking on Pinterest…

James Potter and the Hall of Elders’ Crossing by G. Norman Lippert. I have read great reviews of this fan fiction novel on Goodreads and I shall definitely be getting a copy in some form in the near future. I think the recreation of the Harry Potter series shows that once a bestselling book series on the scale of Harry Potter is created, it will never die, I guess you only have to look at how the world of Harry Potter has already spanned across eight films, various theme parks across the world, toys and figurines and the online world of Pottermore. Fan fiction is a fantastic way to make a bestseller. The story has already been sold and successfully exploded across the globe, so why not base a story on one which has become a worldwide phenomenon?

I know a lot of people will be pleased to hear of Lippert’s story of Harry’s father, James, and what him and his friends got up to at Hogwarts and I know I certainly am!

After seeing this on the bestsellers list for a while, I decided to see what it was like. I found a great quote which I thought was really interesting and inspiring:

‘We live in time – it holds and moulds us – but I’ve never felt I understood it very well. I’m not referring to theories about how it bends and doubles back, or may exist elsewhere in parallel versions. No, I mean ordinary, everyday time, which clocks and watches assure us passes regularly: tick-tick, click-clock. Is there anything more plausible than a second hand? And yet it takes only the smallest pleasure or pain to teach us time’s malleability. Some emotions speed it up, others slow it down; occasionally, it seems to go missing – until the eventual point when it really does go missing, never to return.’